...And the conversation somehow drifted to 'Al Tishali Oti'. Declared one blogger, "If I was the sabra, I wouldn't post so cryptically'. "If I was the sabra", said another, "I wouldn't use so many Hebrew & Yiddish words." Another blogger chimed in, "If I owned 'Al Tishali Oti', I would be more consistent with colors n content." "I wouldn't be sarcastic to commenters", muttered another, darkly. One blogger added not. "I have nothing to say, for 'To know the sabra is to be the sabra'."

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Kanu :)

December 22, 2003, 3:45PM, Borders Books & Music, Hollywood-A striking scissors-toting toffee-skinned man in a cowboy hat is escorted out of the ladies room by two bookstore employees. An attractive brunet in her twenties clad in a black hair salon cape trails sheepishly behind him. Guerilla hairdresser Kanu Saul has once again been busted. The only evidence he leaves behind is a small, neat pile of locks on the bathroom floor.

An odd scenario to most, it is commonplace for the 35-year-old stealth stylist and his ad hoc clientèle. Referred to by some Hollywood locals as "The Hair Cowboy," the "Homeless Haircutter," and "The Picasso of Haircutters," Saul politely approaches people in bookstores, restaurants, bars, clubs, and on the street asking if he can cut their hair on the spot for $20. He's got more charm than training--he apprenticed for a hairdresser in Zimbabwe at age 16-- but he persuades plenty of people to take a chance. "He's good-looking. He's got these piercing eyes and he knows style," says Annie Shirinian, a client he met at the Pig n' Whistle restaurant in Hollywood.

Saul carries his own cape and makes his volunteers stand for the duration of the dry cut (anywhere from seven minutes to three hours). Unlike traditional stylists, he does not trim straight across. As his client holds still he pulls hard in the direction of hair growth and snips at an angle using the lines of the face as a compass. Little hair comes off but the hairdo appears healthier and more stylized. "It's an interactive cut in that I can't get it without the person holding strong," explains Saul.

Exiled to the street outside Borders, Saul coaches his latest client to do just that, as if he were chanting a mantra: "Hold strong! Hold strong!" He approached 25-year-old actress Jessica Kate Meyer (The Pianist) while she was sitting with a friend in the bookstore café. She hesitated at first but now she is standing in the middle of a courtyard in a cape getting a haircut, as well as incredulous stares. "I feel like we're rebels fighting for our right to have haircuts outside," she jokes.

Other celebrities have also fallen prey to Saul's endearing persona. He boasts that he once cut the hair of one of the musicians in The Rembrandts (of "Friends" TV theme fame). He also recounts being summoned for his services to the home of shaggy-haired rocker Marky Ramone (of The Ramones) by the drummer's wife.

He had initially approached "Mrs. Ramone" at The Highlands club in Hollywood. He has been known to corral customers at other nightspots such as Ivar and Star Shoes. One bartender at the latter admits, "He gets us into trouble sometimes because he's doing it in the bathroom when it's busy." She recalls having had to clear the small lavatory on one occasion as four women, crammed inside, waited in line for Saul to cut their hair.

"Cutting hair has opened a lot of doors," says Saul, who admits that his true calling is acting. "I've met so many different genres of people here in LA, everywhere."

Born in New York to an interracial couple, he has lived and cut in South Africa, Germany and France. In the latter, says Saul, "I played a musician in a popular television show called Helen and the Boys." He apparently managed to squeeze in some haircuts for cast members, and to do a little modeling for clothing designer Jean-Paul Gaultier to boot. "I came back to New York [in 2001] and I went from being a star in France to being nothing," he says, dejected.

Eventually he returned to cutting hair.It was in Washington Square Park that he first tried his special technique. He describes the scene: the client's waist-length tresses blowing in the wind, like some urban Boticelli painting. A year later, Saul moved to Los Angeles where his capricious cuts suit the city's pie-in-the-sky fantasies. "I don't want to be a mommy anymore," says 29-year-old Setta Casillan, as he chops her hair in the private bathroom of Pig n' Whistle restaurant in Hollywood, "Make me a rock star!"

Like some "Midnight Cowboy," Kanu Saul came to LA with a knock'em dead smile and lofty dreams. Still, some might prefer that he wake up from his contagious reverie. Rick Lopes, a spokesman for the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, seems intent on seeing Saul get a license.

"There are some serious health, safety and sanitation concerns here. If we have to take actions to get him to stop, we'll do that," he admonishes. But even urban cowboys need sheriffs. They make the fight worth fighting.

lolllllllllll!!oy i just LOVE it! im trying to explain to my mother how funny it is but she's just not getting it. i mean yo, i giggle to myself at random intervals of the day just thinkin about "wait for it, here it comes, aaaaaanaaaaand--"

me and my wife have been researching 2012 for about 2 years now and have allready started planning they say by 2010 you will see it in the sky and i think thats about the time we will have everything ready we are looking to start a survival group or if anyone else has one that we can join let me know ill check back later thanks[url=http://2012earth.net/world_schedule.html]2012 end of world [/url] - some truth about 2012

What is a sabra?
A sabra is a form of cactus, Opuntia ficus-indica, that grows extensively in Israel.
The fruit of the sabra has a thick peel with a sharp spine and is covered in prickly thorns. Once the rough and deterring exterior is peeled away, however, you will reach the contrasting sweet pulp.
Authentic Israelis are often referred to as "sabras" because they tend to be outwardly tough and coarse, but once you get to know them they really are a soft, sweet and sensitive people.